chalk paint

August 20, 2012

My DIY: Shoe shine box

I scored this old shoe shine box at a yard sale for $4 – a little pricey you say, but in my defence it did come with lovely old shoe shine brushes and rags. I still have some plaster of paris from my first chalk paint experiment, and thought this one might be a good candidate. It was in the sort of condition you might imagine an old shoe shine box would be in:

Once it was cleaned and I determined that the bulk of the hardware was not screwed in (so it was left in tact and masked during painting) I mixed up some black and white chalk paints. As with my previous project, it’s one part well-mixed plaster of paris, to 3 parts paint.  And off we went!

Once the paint is done, there is some roughing up with a sanding sponge to give it that weathered look, and then a buffing with minwax. And here is the final product:

I’m pleased with the final product, but I’ll be honest and say that I think this is my last foray into chalk paint. I know it’s super popular, but it’s just not my thing. On to glossier adventures!

 

 

 

July 22, 2012

The land of chalk painting

Chalk paint is all the rage with its muted colours and lovely finish – and DIY chalk paint recipes abound on the internet, so I thought I would give it a try. I’ll admit at the start that the chalk paint look is not really me. I’m much more bright colours and modern design, but it’s always good to try new things and since Steve has put the ixnay on my plan to make prison hooch in our toilet, chalk paint seemed a reasonable activity.

I decided to try this method on three different items:

A decorative container

A bizarre plaster deer head wall art thing

And finally two ornate curtain rod holders – which I intend to be napkin holders for my picnic table.

My feeling is that #3 is best suited to this technique, but we’ll never know til the paint dries so here we go!

Following directions I found here, I mixed the plaster of paris with a bit of water until smooth and then poured the paint into it – 1 part plaster to 3 parts paint. Mix well and paint on.

I had chosen a hot coral to try this with but was left waiting long enough at the paint counter to come to my senses and pick a muted medium blue.

It dries quite fast and after a few coats were dry, I sanded the piece for a bit of distress. The deer looked distressed enough that I wanted to cry, so they got another coat of paint and were left in peace. I then rubbed on some Minwax on all the pieces and buffed it. That’s not a step to miss as it really takes the finish from nice to lovely.

So how did it look?

The container is pretty meh. I would judge this as an unfinished project that I will continue on with.

The deer …hmmm… I hung them in my office and they just didn’t look right. The loss of their facial features was unnerving. But they look good in direct sunlight so I think I find them a spot in my garden – see if I can’t freak out some of the local cats or something.

The former curtain rod holders? As predicted this is just the method for them.

Pretty nice, no? That’s going to take my backyard picnics up a level.  I’ll have to buy the wine with a cork now.